Otzma Yehudit halts coalition support while PM ‘hides’ details of ceasefire-hostage deal proposal

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announces his Otzma Yehudit party will not vote with the coalition in the Knesset until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveals details of an Israeli ceasefire-hostage deal proposal.

“As long as the prime minister continues to hide the details of the deal, Otzma Yehudit will disrupt his coalition,” Ben Gvir tweets.

Ben Gvir and other far-right lawmakers have asserted they will not agree to a deal with Hamas that ends the war in exchange for the release of hostages.

US President Joe Biden laid out a number of the Israeli offer’s key elements in a high-stakes speech last Friday, which triggered shockwaves in Jerusalem where Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners threatened to bring down the government if the premier advanced the proposal.

The deal would see the remaining living female, elderly, and sick hostages abducted during the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught released during a six-week first phase. The second phase of the deal would see a permanent end to the war; and Biden said Hamas would not remain in power in Gaza, but did not detail how that would come about.

Also during the first phase, Israel and Hamas would hold negotiations regarding the terms of the permanent ceasefire and the release of the remaining living hostages in the second phase. The third phase would see the release of the bodies of hostages and the commencement of an internationally backed reconstruction plan for Gaza.